Ditty Clare Young was born on April 4, 1939, in Kingston, Jamaica, the youngest of 10 children to Claude and Helen Morris. She was an ultimate loving and dedicated wife, mother, Grandmother, mother figure, and friend to many. She is survived by her loving husband Joseph Young, her best friend and partner in life; her daughters Donna Foster and Marcia Young; and her Grandchildren - twins Shonna Foster & Ricardo Foster Jacob-Ramkissoon (deceased), Simone Foster-Ramkissoon, Omari Young and Andre Young; and many loving family and friends.

Ditty loved, embraced every moment and every experience life blessed her with. She had a vivacious personality and always made the people around her smile, dance, laugh, and have fun in life. She made friends everywhere she went. Whether on a plane, a bus, a train, a cruise ship, at church, the mall, on the road, or at any event, she made a friend. Her lifting and drawing energy was truly magnetic, and a gift to be around. She was deeply loved and treasured by everyone.

Ditty served as a Captain in the Jamaica Defense Force a division of the British Army Corp and was the acting secretary to one of its highest ranking officers. Serving was an honor she was proud of and in her elder years would share photographs and stories from her time in the army.

Ditty immigrated to the USA, in the 60’s where she honed her accounting skills, worked with troubled youth, and assisted other family members to migrate from Jamaica to the US. She enjoyed going to the theatre, Coney Island and many trips to various states to learn the history.

In the mid 70s, she immigrated to Toronto, Ditty’s many accolades and achievements over the years could not fill these pages. Ditty worked as a Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Transportation for over 35 years, from where she retired from at 63. She was instrumental in the development and building of the first daycare center at MTO and was a key figure in the development and planning of the 407- ETR. Often, she would be in the field, dawning a hard hat, with the planning and design teams. She contributed to planning several comprehensive transportation management programs and welcomed many international government officials for meetings and trainings on policy for transportation systems. Some of the countries included India, Australia, France, and China. Several officials later wrote the government of Ontario to ‘particularly thank
Mrs. Ditty Young’ for her work and service. Not only did she treasure those letters of recognition dearly, but she also loved to learn a few key phrases from languages so she could communicate back in their languages, and this was pre-internet.

A resident of Scarborough for over 40 years, Ditty was the Vice President for the Scarborough Chapter of the Congress of Black Women, a member of the Fundraising Committee Member for Tropicana Community Services, and active member of the Scarborough, participating in various council meetings with MPPS, MPs for the betterment of her community. She is fondly remembered as a ‘go-getter who was outstanding at securing venues and gifts for Auction.’

For over 30 years, she was an active member of Hillcrest Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) she sang in the choir, often serving as the lay leader for service, was Chair of both the Board of Elders and the Administrative Board and was a valued member of Christian Women Fellowship.

Ditty may have been the youngest and the smallest of all her siblings but many of them recalled her being instrumental in raising the siblings once their parents died unexpectedly. Her character was truly unmatched. She was not afraid of anyone or anything. She would speak her mind, lift you up, show up, and always find a way. Her life was a living example of kindness, compassion, service, fun, travel, and living life to its fullest each day because ‘when you are called, you are called’ and ‘so you must live each day to its fullest.’ And that she did.